AAASI Faculty Fred Lee and Cathy Schlund-Vials to Participate in Asian American Politics Panel

With just 4 weeks to go before Americans vote on the next president of the United States, Prof. Janelle Wong of the University of Maryland and author of a book on Asian American political participation, will keynote “Race and the Future of Asian American Politics” on Tuesday, October 11 at 6:00pm in Gentry 131. Wong is a co-principal investigator of the 2016 National Asian American Survey and is currently researching the growing numbers of Latino and Asian evangelicals and their role in U.S. politics.

Co-sponsored with the Asian American Cultural Center, this event opens the annual Asian American Heritage Observance at the University of Connecticut. The panel that consists of UConn’s Fred Lee, Assistant Prof. in Political Science and Asian American Studies, community activist Arlene Avery, and legislative analyst Alok Bhatt, will be moderated by AAASI director Cathy Schlund-Vials.

“… What we see is more of a halfhearted, largely symbolic attempt to reach out [to Asian Americans and Latinos] …

Although Asian Americans have been touted as a growing force in American politics, with the number of voters expected to double by 2040, in a recent interview conducted by Nicole Chung, Professor Wong said, however, that “… What we see is more of a halfhearted, largely symbolic attempt to reach out [to Asian Americans and Latinos] … Another potential factor is Asian Americans’ lack of strong political affiliation. Even though APIA voters have been trending heavily Democratic … they are more likely to say they’re unaffiliated/independent. Parties do want to go after undecideds, but I think some are afraid to go after Asian Americans because they aren’t sure if they’ll vote their way.”

In a related post by AAASI Affiliated Faculty Carolyn Lin that is published in UConn Today, she focuses her contribution in analyzing this presidential election on the voter’s “cognitive budget” that works with our individual psychological “map” in helping to guide how we might respond to campaign messages, all manner of political media, and casual conversations with other potential voters. Professor Lin also differentiates between whether an individual is a “low” or “high” involvement voter.

Low-involvement voters tend to process more superficial peripheral cues such as emotional appeals, slogans, personality, and image of a political candidate without investing the mental effort necessary to better understand the arguments or policies presented by the candidate.

High-involvement voters tend to process more substantive content cues, such as a candidate’s knowledge, qualifications, experience, and rational appeals by investing the necessary mental effort to understand the arguments or policies of a candidate.

Tonight’s event is free and open to the public. Please contact ASACC@uconn.edu or (860) 486-0830 if you are an individual with a disability requiring accommodations.


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